San Antonio Missions

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The San Antonio Missions are a group of five frontier mission complexes and a ranch built by Franciscan missionaries in the 18th century. They illustrate the Spanish Crown's efforts to colonize, evangelize and defend the northern frontier of New Spain while also demonstrating the inventive interchange that occurred between indigenous peoples, missionaries, and colonizers, resulting in a fundamental and permanent change in the cultures and values of all involved. The Missions display an interweaving of Spanish and Coahuiltecan cultures, illustrated by a variety of features, including the decorative elements of churches, which combine Catholic symbols with indigenous designs inspired by nature. In addition to evangelizing the area's indigenous population into converts loyal to the Catholic Church, the missions also included all the components required to establish self-sustaining, socio-economic communities loyal to the Spanish Crown.